Tag Archives: Lifestyle Blog

A favorite hobby of mine is curating recipes. I’m a self-taught cook (more Rachel Ray, than Wolfgang Puck). I find solace in ingredients, and joy in family gatherings around the table. When designing a menu for a recent dinner party, I headed directly to my Pinterest recipe boards and started perusing the deliciousness I have parked for such an occasion.

For dinner with friends, I was looking for a chicken recipe that would be unexpected, along with a creative pasta that would accompany the happy bird.

Get ready to lose your face, because this menu was beyond expectation…

Are you headed to a Super Bowl party this weekend? Why not be the Queen of the appetizers? I could easily make a meal out of dips and spreads; in fact, I think there should just be a restaurant that serves only appetizers.

Over the holidays, I made this Hot Caramelized Onion, Bacon & Gruyere cheese dip, and it was smack your face delicious!

Cook bacon in a large nonstick skillet. Remove to a paper towel lined plate to cool. Crumble.

Add onions, sugar, and salt to bacon fat in the skillet and cook over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes. Reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring often, until onions turn a deep golden brown color. This can take as long as 20 minutes. If onions start to burn, turn heat down to medium-low.

I’m all about shortcuts to make life easier. I can’t begin to tell you how many times I’ve been caught short by not having a greeting card on hand as I head out to a birthday party or need to send a congratulations or sympathy card.

Every year I make sure to pick up a greeting card box, so I always have plenty of cards on hand. With the shortage of card shops these days, it’s great to have my own private stash. I’ve found these card boxes at Costco and Target. For those feeling a bit more creative, why not make your own card box? We love this super cute idea by Honeysuckle Life.

Photo by Honeysuckle Life.

Taking this organizational thing one step further, why not create a gift drawer? I think this works especially great when you have kids and they are invited to a birthday party about every 3 days! That elementary school birthday party circuit can fray even the most organized parent! Be on the lookout for items on sale throughout the year that you can put into your gift drawer. Or even gather items in the Dollar Section; by putting together a few “dollar” gems, you can create an adorable gift basket! There is no need to spend hundreds of dollars on kids gifts, regardless of how many Jones’ you want to keep up with! They are kids after all.